Motor-vehicle.



UNITED STATES Patented June 16, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES B. TITUS, OF LITTLE RIVER, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOSEPH MOORE, OF LITTLE RIVER, KANSAS.

MOTOR-VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 31,086, dated June 16, 1903.

Application filed September 22, 1902. Serial No. 124,414. (No model.)

10 vehicle which may be made at comparatively small cost and attached to a buggy, wagon, or any other form of vehicle or machine which it is desired to propel.

A further object of the invention is to pro- I 5 vide a device of this character which may be I readily attached to the vehicle and be fully under the control of the occupant.

With these and other objects in view theinvention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of the structure may be made without departing frdm the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation, partially in section, of a motor-vehicle constructed in accordance with my invention and illustrating the same in connection with an ordinary form of road-vehicle. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of a portion of the vehicle-frame.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The device forming the subject of the present invention is intended primarily for use 7 in connection with any ordinary form of roadvehicle, and it is intended to manufacture a motor-vehicle of relatively small size to be used in place of the draft-animals.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a platform on which is mounted a motor 2, the motor being of any required construction and operated from any suitable source of energy, the device illustrated in the drawings being in the form of an ordinary type of explosiveengine, in which 3 indicates the cylinder and 4 the crank-shaft, provided with suitable balance-wheels 5. Where a gas-engine is used, the base or bed of the engine may be employed as a reservoir for the liquid hydrocarbon, which may be admixed with air in the usual manner to form the explosive compound.

Secured to the under slde of the platform 1 are depending. hangers 6, forming bearings 6e for the support of a wheeled shaft 7. The shaft is provided with a fixed friction-disk 8, with the opposite sides of which engage two friction-rollers 9, carried by short shaft-sections 10, having their opposite ends adapted to bearings in boxes 11 and 12, respectively. The boxes 12 at the inner ends of the shafts 10 are provided with guiding-openings for the reception of the vehicle-axle and are movable longitudinally on said axle, while the boxes are normally pressed toward each other by compression-springs 14, extending between the boxes and adjustable collars 15, carried by the axle. The outer boxes 11 are connected to cross-bars 15, and between these cross 7 bars extend tension-springs 16, the ends of the springs being held in place by nuts 17, adapted to threaded eyebolts in order to permit the adjustment of the springs in accordance with the similar adjustment of the collars 15. The

'two sets of springs serve to maintain the friction-rollers 9 in intimate contact with opposite sides of the friction-disk 8, and the adjustment of the springs permits of the increase or decrease in the degree of frictional contact to accommodate light and heavy loads. The friction-rollers maybe adjusted longitudinally on their respective shafts to increase or decrease the distance between the center of rotation'of the disk and the point of con 0 tact with the rollers, and thus regulate the speed of the vehicle. The two bearing-boxes 11 serve as supports for a counter-shaft 20, having a sprocket-wheel 21, to which motion is imparted from a sprocket-Wheel 22 on the 5 main shaft of the motor through the medium of a link belt-23. The shaft 20 is further provided with apairof bevel-gears 24, which intermesh with similar bevel gears on the shafts 10 to impart the rotative movement of the mo- I00 tor-shaft to the friction-rollers.

The platform 1 is provided with a circular guideway having upper and lower flanges 26 and adapted to receive a circular strap 27, suitable antifriction-rollers 28 being disposed between the flanges for contact with the inner surface of the strap. The strap passes entirely around the circular guide, and its opposite end portions are secured to a rectangular block or box 29, which is connected to a similar block 30 by a horizontally-disposed pivot-pin 31, the arrangement being such as to permit free movement of the platform in order that the wheels of the vehicle may accommodate themselves to any unevenness of the road-bed. The pivot-block 30 is connected bya pair of thills to thin-couplings 32, secured in the usual manner to the front axle of the road-vehicle A, the thills taking the place of the usual thills or shafts ordinarily used for attaching a draft-animal to a vehicle.

The box 29 is provided with a bracket 33, forming a support for a vertical spindle 34, on which is secured a drum 35, and the upper end of the spindle is connected by a steering-rod 36, which extends to a continued point within reach of the occupant of the vehicle. The drum is surrounded by the central portion of a flexible cord or chain 38, havingits opposite ends connected to securing-eyes 39 on top of the platform 1, so that when the steering-rod is turned the platform and its supporting-wheels may be steered in any desired direction. The steering mechanism may be connected to the platform in any desired manner and may take the form of a worm and screw or other gearing, if desired. 7 To attach a motor-vehicle of this character to a vehicle, it is merely necessaryto remove the ordinary shaft and attach the thills 31 to the axle of the vehicle by the thill-couplings 32, and in this manner the motor-vehicle may be used in connection with pleasure-vehicles, farm-wagons, or drays or for other traction purposes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A motor-vehicle comprising in combination, a wheeled platform of circular form, a motor carried by the platform and adapted to propel the vehicle, a relatively stationary frame having means at one end for detachably securing it to a road-vehicle, a strap forming a part of the stationary frame and encircling the platform to permit revoluble movement of the latter in steering, and a steering mechanism carried by the stationary frame and controllable from the road-vehicle.

2. The combination in a motor-vehicle, of a platform having circular form, a motor carried by the platform and adapted to propel the same, a relatively stationary frame having a strap surrounding the circular portion of the platform, a steering-drum mounted on the stationary frame, an operating-lever extending from said drum, and flexible connections carried by the drum and extending to the opposite sides of the platform.

3. A motor-vehicle comprising in combination, a wheeled platform, a frame having a pair ofhorizontally-pivoted members of which the rear member is adapted for connection to a road-vehicle, a circular strap forming a portion of the front member, a wheeled platform having an annular groove for the reception of said strap and provided with antifrictionrollers for contact with the inner surface of the strap, a motor mechanism for propelling the platform, and means for steering the same, substantially as specified.

4. The combination in a motor-vehicle, of the platform having two supporting-wheels and provided with an annular groove, a connecting-frame formed of two horizontally-pivoted members and having a strap adapted to said groove and provided at its rear end with a vehicle-attaching means, a vertically-disposed spindle carried by the frame, a drum secured to the spindle, a flexible connecting device extending around the drum and having its opposite ends secured to the platform, a steering-rod secured to the spindle, and a motor mechanism for propelling the wheeled platform.

5. The combination in a motor-vehicle, of the platform, a motor carried thereby, an axle on which said platform is mounted, a frictiondisk secured to said axle, apair of oppositelydisposed friction-rollers for contact with said disk, shafts carrying the rollers, springs for forcing said rollers into engagement with the disk, and gearing connecting said shafts to the shaft of the motor.

6. The combination in a motor-vehicle, of the platform, a wheeled axle supporting said platform, a motor carried by the platform, a disk secured to the axle, a counter-shaft'disposed parallel with the axle, bearing-boxes disposed on the axle and the counter-shaft, springs tending to force said boxes toward each other, shafts adapted to hearings in the boxes, friction-rollers carried by said shafts and adapted for engagement with opposite sides of the friction-disk, bevel-gear connections between the counter-shaft and the shafts of the friction-rollers, and means for connecting the counter-shaft to the shaft of the motor.

7. The combination in a motor-vehicle, of

the platform having an annular groove, a

motor mounted on the platform, a wheeled axle on which said platform is supported, a counter-shaft disposed parallel with the axle, a sprocket-Wheel and link-belt connection between the counter-shaft and the motor, bearing-boxes carried by the counter-shaf t and the axle, laterally-extended arms connected to the outer bearing-boxes, adjustabletension-springs connecting said arms, compression-springs encircling the axle, adjustable collars carried by the axle and having their inner ends in engagement with the bearingboxes on the axle, radial shafts carried by the bearing-boxes, a friction-disk carried by the axle, friction-rollers carried by the two shafts and engaging opposite sides of the fric- Lion-disk, bevel-gears connecting said shafts to the counter-shaft, a frame havinga circular strap adapted to the annular groove of the platform, a pair of horizontally-pivoted boxes forming a part of said frame, thill-bars I extending rearwardly from one of said boxes and adapted for connection to the thill-couplings of a road-vehicle, a vertical spindle carried by the frame, a drum secured to said spindle, a steering-rod connected to the spindle, and a flexible rope or chain encircling said drum and having its opposite ends connected to opposite sides of the platform, substantially as specified. I

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as I5 my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. TITUS.

Witnesses:

L. M. WATTS, GEO. G. GREEN. 

